Kodak Digital cameras 30 years ago 1996-2026

If you wanted a Kodak brand digital camera in 1996, exactly 30 years ago.

You already had four choices available to you.

First, the small Kodak DC20 with a 180,000 pixel sensor (493x373), Internal storage: 1MB
This was my first digital camera.
$350 US upon release

Or its big brother, the Kodak DC25, the first to be able to use CF (CompactFlash)
Also with an 180,000 pixel sensor (493x373) and 2MB of internal storage and a flash
Approximately $500 US

And the most sophisticated compact camera in 1996, the famous Kodak DC50
With a 380,000 pixel sensor (756x504)
Storage: 1MB Internal & PCMCIA
Price around $960 US

And finally the fourth, definitively inaccessible for the vast majority of us.

The famous Kodak AP NC 2000e Pro with a 1.28 MP sensor (1268x1012)
And that you could get for the modest sum of $15,000 US in 1996!

It was obviously a superb digital camera for its time.
A collaboration between Kodak and Associated Press (AP) for photojournalism.

I finally acquired this camera ten years later in 2006 for $320 US
And I had fun making comparisons with other cameras of the same caliber.
You can see my three comparisons right here, if you're interested.

Kodak DCS 200 (1992) / Kodak AP NC2000e Pro (1996)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157711652883367

Kodak-Canon EOS-1n DCS 3c (1995) / Kodak AP NC2000e Pro (1996)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157712429110587

Kodak AP NC2000e Pro (1996) / Kodak DCS 620x (2000)
www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157711537022893

I've always had a soft spot for the Kodak brand. 😍

My first was some kind of Sony Mavica - which took 3.25” floppy discs. 640 x 480, I seem to remember.

Best wishes
A

Hi,

I picked up used, after the Nikon D1 came out, a Nikon E2 /Kodak DCS 460 pair. At the time, the pair cost the same as a D1. I was working on a low res / high res (relatively speaking given the timeframe) situation using the same lenses I had been using with 135 format film.

So, I missed these models altogether.

Stan

Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Kodak DC20 Digital Camera (1996)
My first digital camera, purchased in 1996 for $280.00 CAD.
Stockage : 1mb Interne

The Kodak DC20 could take 16 photos in 320 x 240 pixels or 8 high-resolution photos 😁 (493 x 373 pixels).

Here's a collection of cameras released in 1996.
It was a very prolific year!

That’s the one!

Best wishes
A

Hi,

Hey! A Nikon CoolPix 100. I had one. Used it at Ericsson to document factory issues, faults in returned products, etc. Carried it absolutely everywhere. That had the camera head pull out from the battery pack to reveal a PCMCIA card. You then stuck it into your computer and read the Quarter VGA shots off.

That was the impetus for the accessory group to develop the CommuniCam for our cell phones, which snapped onto the bottom. Image transfer was via BlueTooth. It used a Sony VGA sensor, so now that was a real improvement. I got the very first prototype.

Fun times!

Stan

Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

And besides, at that time, we were younger. 😉

Coolpix 100

I used to develop my own B&W snaps plus use Kodachrome for slides and was very sceptical towards digital cameras. However with a HP calculator using RPN and an ARM BBC-micro in the household, I became curious as to what a digicam could do, My friend and Nikon enthusiast Bjørn Rørslett tending the University computer central, showed me what digicams could do, so after experimenting with a small Fuji device ,i got a Kodak- converted Canon that produced excellent pictures (set at lower than 400ASA"film"sensitivity).

I like Brueghel-style detail in pictures rather than ill defined fuzzy badckgrounds, so sharpness and contrast rules. Still a slide projected 6by6 feet beats any computer screen or printout..

By now others make more convenient high sensitivity chips and electronics, but I still miss Kodaks picture processing program. At least it had the advantage over current photoshop of not having to be a serf, by enterng a kind of indentured labour contract to continue using the program.

p.

I used film photography for 25 years, from 1971 to 1996, with great pleasure and for several hundred, even thousands of hours!
But today I wouldn't go back for anything in the world, locking myself in a dark room to breathe in chemicals.
Long live digital technology! and Lightroom 🤩